Now Or Never
by Military Mechanic
Summary: It had been so warm. So comforting - not like when Winry kissed him earlier, or anything else he's ever felt before. Yet, now that he's gone and done it, Alphonse's brain has begun to work again. And he cannot help but worry that Edward won't look at him the same anymore.


A/N: okay, i admit. this isn't for a challenge or anything like that. this is just because i've never written for Elricest before and wanted to see if i could. plus, is it just me or are there almost no sweet-n-simple stories out there for these too? 0-0 anywho, like always, i live off of reviews. i have a poll going on in my profile. i take story requests.

so leave me a review and send me a PM, yeah?

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Alphonse stares at his brother, eyes wide in a combination of surprise and complete mortification. The light skin of his cheeks were flushed pink, only visible for a moment before he flung his hands up to bury his face in.

Across from him, hands hanging limply at his side, Edward just stares at him. The older boy's cheeks bear the same tint of color, but his sharp golden eyes only hold a tinge of surprise. Beneath that, there's a layer of amusement, of disbelief.

Silence reigns for a moment, then Edward touches his flesh fingertips to his lips. Holds them there for a moment, then lets it drop down to his side again to resume staring at his younger brother.

"Al?" he asks, arching one slender brow.

Alphonse lets out a muffled whine, hands still clutching his face. He cannot _believe_ that he was stupid enough to do that! Not just with another boy, but with his own brother!

"C'mon, Al." Edward says, taking the few steps across the room and over to the slightly taller boy. Reaching up, ever gentle with his automail hand, he carefully pries the other's slender hands away from his face. "I'm not mad. I just want to know what the Hell you were doing, 'kay?"

Even though one hand is made out of metal, Alphonse's hands still feel immensely warm. Just like his lips, slightly chapped, had felt moments prior - and the very thought of the impromtu kiss sets the youngest boy's cheeks aflame again.

Edward, in one of the rare moments of patience reserved soley for his brother, keeps silent.

"Winry...She kissed me earlier today and I didn't know what to do. It just didn't...I didn't like...It didn't feel right, Brother! At all! I didn't like it!" Alphonse says, words rushing out in a flood of anxiety.

In the back of his mind, he can still picture the look of hurt that flashed across the blonde girl's when he pushed her away. When Alphonse had started running, to his house, and seen the slightly shorter alchemist standing in the middle of the kitchen. Without thinking, or maybe because he had been thinking a little too much, he had flung himself at his brother and kissed him.

It had been so warm.

It had been so comforting.

So Alphonse had pushed himself closer to the other male, trying to get more of that feeling. Then Edward had made a confused noise, hands fluttering up by the other's shoulders, and Alphonse had remembered he was _kissing his brother_.

Which led to their current, awkward situation.

"And it's just that you, well, you've always been there for me!" Alphonse finally blurts, not sure what else to say on the matter. "So when I came in here, and you were already in here, and I was still thinking about Winry, I just...I don't know!"

"You thought that it might be different?" Ed asks - and Alphonse is immensely relieved that he doesn't sound irritated in the slightest. He just sounds...Like Edward.

Alphonse gives a slight nod, very tempted to once more bury his face in his too-sweaty palms.

"And?" Edward prompts, and there's a note of slight amusement in his voice now. Maybe a bit of longing there too?

Alphonse isn't sure, really. Isn't sure about anything right then. Nothing except for the fact that, yes, the two kisses had been extremely different. Winry's was cold, distant, soft. Edward's was warm, rough, and so very _there_.

Quitely, he answers the elder boy. "Yeah, they were...I...It felt good, Brother. And warm."

Edward grins, but the action is far more gentle than his usual one. Less sure of himself, in an odd way. With one arm, he reaches out and tugs his brother closer to him, embracing him in a hug. Due to the fact that Alphonse is slightly taller then him, Ed ends up just resting his chin on the other boy's shoulder.

"Relax, Al. You're shaking like a leaf!" he says, trying very hard to ignore the way that Alphonse stiffened when he hugged him.

Alphonse nods. "I just...You aren't mad at me, are you?"

The blond boy tightens his grip on his younger brother, giving a slight shake of his head. "Of course not, Al! You just surprised me is all. I wasn't expecting _that_ this morning, you know?"

"Oh..." Alphonse says, and he isn't sure why that answer upsets him. He should be glad that Edward isn't angry but, still, he was almost hoping for something more to come out of that answer.

"Hey, don't get like that!" Edward says, pulling away from his brother. He keeps both hands firmly on the taller's shoulders though. "I didn't say that it was _bad_, did I? I liked it, and it took you enough time to work things out."

"W-what do you mean 'work things out'?" Alphonse asks, then his mind latches onto the rest of the statement and his eyes go wide. "R-really? You did?"

"Yeah, of course I did." Edward tells him, grinning. "You haven't had all that time for dating and shit so I was just waiting to see if you ever got the fact that, y'know, I love you. _Like that._ Pretty fucking happy that you see me the same way!"

Oh. _Oh_. That...That makes sense, actually, Alphonse realizes. It brings a lot of things into clarity, sheds light on so many little things that Edward has done for him. Is still doing for him.

Unfortunately, looking at his brother right then, he cannot think of a single way to put those feelings into words.

Fortunately, he doesn't have too.

Edward has leaned slightly closer to him, face angled up towards his brothers, and hands moving. The automail one rests on the back of Al's neck, flesh one on the back of his head, lips torturously close to Alphonse's.

When he speaks, his breath comes out and dances across Alphonse's flesh, sending a shudder through him.

"So, Al...Do you want to learn the difference between one kiss and another?" Edward asks, voice nothing more than a whisper.

All Alphonse can bring himself to do is nod.


End file.
